Tag Archives: Essie

Oh Essie Midnight Cami. I’ve had such a long, turbulent love affair with you. Sometimes you are my favorite Essie polish of all time. Then other times you aren’t even my favorite polish from the Cuddle With Color collection, that goes to Angora Cardi. Sigh.

Originally from Essie’s Fall 2009 Cuddle With Color collection, Midnight Cami is a deep navy packed with shimmer. The color is gorgeous but very dark. Darker than it looks in the bottle. In most lights it’s going to look black, though I still content slightly less harsh than a straight black polish.

Application is good. I tend to have a bit of a drag issue with Midnight Cami so I have to use 3 coats to even that out despite the fact it’s opaque after 2 coats.

As with most polishes in the color range, Midnight Cami will stain! Make sure to use a base coat and avoid your cuticles when applying the polish.

This is one of those nail polishes I either wear constantly or it collects dust in one of my Melmers. Recently, I haven’t been able to stop wearing it! The main reason I tend to avoid this polish is the messy removal process. I do find using my nail polish removal method prevents this polish from staining my cuticles when removing it but no matter what base coat I use it does stain my nails. At least a little bit.

Rimmel Midnight Blue is a dead on dupe of this polish and I find it stains less.

Below the jump there are comparison photos of Rimmel Midnight Blue and Midnight Cami along with additional swatches of Midnight Cami (including a swatch in the sun!).

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Before this post can be read this song must be playing in the background.

Seriously. I’ve had that song stuck in my head for DAYS thanks to this nail polish! And I don’t even really like it!

Ok, moving on to the nail polish. Shake Your $$ Maker (which I still think is super strange to see on the bottom of an Essie bottle…) is from Essie’s Summer 2013 DJ Play That Song neon collection. Apparently neon collections for summer are becoming a thing for Essie (last summer they released a neon collection called Poppy-razzi).

I’ve seen 2 different displays for this collection. A smaller display that seems to only be at drugstores as well as a larger display at Ulta. Shake Your $$ Maker is available from either display.

Shake Your $$ Maker is a medium green creme neon with a jelly look to it. This polish is neon in the sense that it dries to that weird semi-matte finish but it’s not very bright (despite the fact that Essie calls it an “electric green”).

In my swatches I used 3 coats and as you can see, the smile line is very visible. So much so that I’m willing to say I do not like this polish alone. For those with shorter nails or those who don’t mind the visible smile line 3 coats will be perfect.

Essie recommends using neon polishes over a white base so I tried that hoping it’d make this polish wearable. I applied 2 coats of Shake Your $$ Maker over 2 coats of Ulta Snow White and while I like the color that creates Shake Your $$ Maker is far too streaker to work well over a white base.

If you’re looking for a neon green polish petites Wicked! is a better (and cheaper!) alternative. If you’re wanting to try a new green from Essie I highly recommend First Timer!

Just a note regarding the name; I hate it. Essie should have just gone with Shake Your Money Maker or Shake Your A$$!

Overall not a great experience. I also have DJ Play That Song from this collection so hopefully I have better luck with that polish.

There are additional swatches below the jump. Including Shake Your $$ Maker over a white base.

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Lately I’ve been on a bit of a green nail polish kick. I blame PISTOL polish Dean’s List. So when I was looking for a polish to wear the other day I remembered I had this one from Essie’s Summer 2013 resort collection. I got First Timer awhile ago, along with In the Cab-ana from the same collection, but threw First Timer in what I call my Essie vase and sort of forgot about it.

First timer is a bright light green that falls slightly short of the pastel category. It’s significantly whiter than Mojito Madness, last year’s popular green polish from Essie, but still perfect for the spring and summer.

The formula was good. I used three coats in my swatches. It is worth  noting the color changes a bit as it dries and ends up a shade or two darker than the polish looks in the bottle.

Generally I love Essie’s resort collections and this year is no exception! 

Make sure to check out the additional swatches below the jump

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Essie’s Madison Ave-hue collection has taken me for a tour around the globe. First it was Hip-Anema, inspired by Ipanema, then Avenue Maintain, inspired by Paris. Now we have Maximillian Strasse Her (seriously, what a mouthful  which was inspired by one of Munich’s royal avenues. Maximilianstraße is famous for its high-end shopping.

Essie describes Maximillian Strasse Her as a cool grey creme. Essie, I love you, but that description is just ridiculous. Maximillian Strasse Her has too much green in it to be called grey. At least in my opinion!

The formula is fantastic. I used just two coats in my swatches.

For my particular skintone I don’t think this is the best polish. But Munich is one of my favorite places on the planet so I just had to have it! It is a lovely color for spring. It’s subtle yet a bit unexpected.

That being said, seriously Essie with the name! I’m still not sure how they stuffed Maximillian Strasse Her on the bottom of a nail polish bottle!

Make sure to check out the additional swatches below the jump

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I have such a love affair with Essie’s Resort collections. Most of my favorite Essie polishes have come from Resort collection from years past so I was pretty excited when I saw the promo image form the 2013 Resort collection; In the Cab-ana. When I saw the display at Ulta I knew I had to own In The Cab-ana! It’s no secret I have a thing for blue polishes.

Essie calls In The Cab-ana a “fab, or self-assured aqua”.  I’m not sure it’s really bright enough to be a true aqua but it’s nearing that general direction. Either way, the color is gorgeous and perfect for the spring and summer!

The formula is fab (ha!). I used just two coats in my swatches.

Me being me I of course had to spice up this manicure a bit. In fashion mixing textures is huge right now so I decided to take that idea and use it for a manicure. I added an accent nail using China Glaze Bump & Grind. The result was amazing! I loved it. I got so many compliments on my manicure.

Below the jump there are swatches of that manicure along with additional swatches of In The Cab-ana.

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Lately I’ve been wearing Essie Avenue Maintain quite a bit. It got me thinking about other French inspired Essie polishes in my collection. Nice is Nice came to mind but when remembered I had Coat Azure I immediately though it might be similar to Avenue Maintain just with shimmer. Turns out I was wrong, but that’s ok, because Coat Azure is just lovely on its own!

Coat Azure is a notable polish in my collection because it was the first polish I acquired in Essie’s retail bottle. I spotted the (at the time…) new Essie display at Wal-Mart which included the French Affair collection. I tried to resist but I just had to have Coat Azure then and there!

Turns out that was a good decision. Coat Azure is a medium dusty blue with subtle but noticeable shimmer. Just a lovely color. I have no complaints.

The formula is also wonderful. I used just two coats in my swatches.

This was a weekend manicure and I really do believe any good weekend mani has some glitter! I added an accent nail using Deborah Lippmann Today Was a Fairytale (turned out to be kind of opposite of my Lapis of Luxury mani!).

Below the jump there are photos of my weekend manicure plus additional swatches of Coat Azure (the shimmer is so gorgeous in the MACRO shots!).

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There’s nothing quite like springtime in Paris. And there’s no color quite as perfect for spring as Parisian blue.

Avenue Maintain is from Essie’s Spring 2013 Madison Ave-hue collection. Each polish in the collection was inspired by a famous shopping city. Avenue Maintain draws inspiration from the famous Avenue Montaigne in the Champs Élysées quarter of Paris. This street is lined with trees (and tourists) and is the location of many high-end retailers.

It’s clear that Essie was trying to create the perfect Parisian blue in a bottle. And they did! Avenue Maintain is a bright sky blue creme. It’s a very clean blue. No dusty or smokey undertones.

Like Hip-Anema, also from this collection, Avenue Maintain has a fabulous formula. I used just 2 coats in my swatches.

I absolutely love this polish (in case that wasn’t completely obvious by now!). It’s right up my alley and a nice change from all the darker colors I’ve been wearing during the fall and winter.

My favorite part of Paris is Montmartre. One day when I was at the top off the hill there was a crazy wind storm that came through. But after it cleared the sky above the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur was the most perfect shade of blue. This polish captures that blue perfectly.

This collection has started showing up in stores (I spotted the display at Rite Aid sans Hip-Anema last week).

Below the jump there are additional swatches. And for good measure here is a picture of Serena and Blair on Avenue Montaigne (because I’m having serious Gossip Girl withdraw!).

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Sigh. I am so sad about this whole Essie Sleek Stick situation.

At the beginning of the year Essie finally threw their hat into the nail strip/sticker/applique ring. I spotted the display at CVS and will admit, the designs are very Essie. Classic yet interesting. Not over the top but still eye catching.

I was kind of disappointed that Essie didn’t follow suit and do real nail polish strips like OPI and China Glaze. But none the less I wanted to give them a try.

Over the Moon is a great design. The base color is a dusty mauve(ish) taupe creme. A nice neutral color that leans a bit warm. It isn’t terrible with my skintone but not the most flattering either. Different sized silver polka dots fade from the cuticle to the tip. I absolutely love this design. That being said….it wouldn’t be THAT difficult to recreate.

The problem is the application and wear of these strips. They are a bit thick and no matter how hard I tried they would not lay completely flat on the nail (reminded me alot of the Julep appliques…). The resulting manicure wasn’t AWFUL (I even kind of liked it….). And from a distance they looked pretty good (as you can see in these pictures . But from Essie and for $10.25 a set I expect more.

To attempt to make them wear better I did add a gel top coat and cure the manicure with an LED lamp. That did help and halt the lifting of the strips but after wearing these for 4 days I was over it.

Below the jump there is alot of additional information and additional swatches including application and removal instructions, packaging details and my manicure on day 4.

If you’ve tried Essie’s Sleek Sticks I’d love to know if your experience was similar (or better…or worse…) than mine!

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